Link-O-Rama
Once again, I've piled up a large number of things that I really ought to comment on, but haven't found the time:
Via Notional Slurry, a transcribed article from 1914 confronting one of the eternal struggles of academe.
Arcane Gazebo and Pharyngula both offer posts on the stupidity of the new SAT essay section, which is apparently graded mostly on length. This is more or less inevitable, given the number of tests they need to grade, but it's still sort of depressing.
Of course, back when Kate was studying for the Bar, her review course gave a factoid on how much time is spent grading each essay-- it was a small number of minutes, something like two (Kate has blocked that whole period from her memory, and thrown away all her Bar Review materials, so I can't verify the number). Their advice, as I recall it, was to skimp on "the whole grammar thing" (to cop a phrase from a student), and make sure that the important facts were really obvious on a quick skim of the essay, which is the other way to go with mass grading of essays.
Turning to science, I'm half ashamed to note that Matt McIrvin's Steam-Powered World of Yesteryear and James Nicoll's LiveJournal have become my go-to sources for astronomy-related news. You'd think that I'd get my updates from the astronomers down the hall, but not so much.
Sean Carroll spent a little time discussing the need for in-person colloquia, and posts some of his talks on-line. On-line talks in general are a poor substitute for the real thing, as many physicists use slides that aren't especially readable by themselves. And, of course, there are side benefits to having people make in-person visits to give talks: the NSF money that I've been spending the last couple of weeks is in some sense a direct result of a colloquium visit by my collaborator on the ATTA paper. Had Dan not come to campus to give his talk, we probably wouldn't've started this project.
Elsewhere, Sean deals with crank cosmology, a nice reminder that biologists don't really get all the loons, just the ones holding public office. On a similar note, Chris Mooney links a Chronicle article by Sanford Lakoff calling for more educational outreach from scientists. I'll have more to say on this later, but the Chronicle piece will vanish behind the paywall soon, so look quick if you want to read it.
In linking the Chronicle piece, Mooney is skeptical that education can really work. I go back and forth about whether I think the general public can achieve greater scientific literacy (my opinion of my fellow man is inversely proportional to the amount of time I've spent recently on line at the grocery store with people who can't count to ten), so it's a tough question to answer. Of course, there's an easier solution: Accept Giblets as your Lord and savior. Bow before Giblets NOOOOOOWWWWWWWW!!!!!
And that's enough of that.
Posted at 8:07 AM | link | follow-ups |